Yahoo and AOL just gave themselves the right to read your emails (again)

Though Yahoo was already scanning its users' emails to maximize ad opportunities, doubling-down on the policy could raise eyebrows in a post-Cambridge Analytica world.

· privacy,digital news

Oath, the media division of Verizon that runs both AOL and Yahoo, is finally unifying the privacy policy of its two giant legacy Internet brands. That means an updated set of privacy terms and policies for hundreds of millions of users. And in an online world where privacy expectations have been radically reshaped in light of Facebook's Cambridge Analytica mess, it's more important than ever to read the fine print on those splash screens.

When we logged in to a Yahoo Mail account Friday, we were greeted with the privacy policy you see below (Jason Kint had pointed to the policy earlier on Twitter). In it, Oath notes that it has the right to read your emails, instant messages, posts, photos and even look at your message attachments. And it might share that data with parent company Verizon, too.

To be clear, Yahoo's previous privacy policy had already stated that Yahoo "analyzes and stores all communications content, including email content," so the company has previously disclosed that it's been able to scan the contents of your emails, at least. (AOL's legacy privacy policy doesn't say anything like that.)

When you dig further into Oath's policy about what it might do with your words, photos, and attachments, the company clarifies that it's utilizing automated systems that help the company with security, research and providing targeted ads -- and that those automated systems should strip out personally identifying information before letting any humans look at your data. But there are no explicit guarantees on that.